


Time in the forest

by oboroten



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:19:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oboroten/pseuds/oboroten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I don't even know what this is except one of many little spin-offs from my fan ramblings of Dream of the Huntress by Robin Robertson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time in the forest

It’s been centuries since Leah last took her two-legged form and walked with bare, calloused, human feet across the snow like this. The white fluff melts around her feet as she takes each slow step, even now marveling at the wonder of the heat her body displaces. She remembers this place very well and it is fitting how, at least covered in snow, it hasn’t changed one bit.

 

It wasn’t that she’d been drawn here, no place but La Push could ever have that pull on her, but a kind of nostalgia had washed over her the last decade driving her to visit the physical locations so often run through in her memory. Here she had prepared to fight the Volturi on behalf of her alpha, to protect her brother and a child she had no interest in past ideal. She remembers Seth’s fierce expression, and Jacob’s assurances, and the bond between the three that let everything flow among their collective minds. She remembers hating it then. She remembers.

 

And she misses.

 

The dull ache in her chest is not unfamiliar but it is unpleasant and Leah wants nothing more than hold her brother in her arms again. She thinks back to the funeral of her father and the way she sobbed privately in her room before Seth came in and held her. She remembers the fear they shared at becoming something they had not been before. She remembers Seth was her only comfort. Leah thinks she might cry like that again if she saw his face now. There is no need to worry, she reminds herself, Seth has been dead a very long time.

 

Her younger brother’s life had been full and beautiful. She had watched his light shine into the sunset of old age, surrounded by children and their children. She remained the same. Leah never could stop herself from shifting, her body never aged then and likely never would now as her second skin became more like her first with each passing year. And when the sun finally set on Seth’s life Leah had shifted and the wolf then took on the grief and loneliness instead.

 

To be alone is not so bad now, she thinks, but then I have forgotten how to be anything else.

 

She cannot stop the musings of her centuries old self as similar thoughts drip into her mind until she hears it. A very faint, very soft, crunch of snow underfoot. She looks down at her own feet, still unmoving in a puddle of melted water and looks up. There is nothing before her but snow and evergreens. Leah turns around and finds herself temporarily unable to process the figure she sees before her.

 

Vampire is the first thing her instincts register.

 

It has been a long time since she last felt that familiar chill creep over her body. The smell of blood hits her then and momentarily Leah feels her stomach tighten. She is hungry, it has been days since she ate and it was only small rabbit she chased across the snowy landscape. She thinks there might still be blood dried and caked on her hands where her paws had held it down as her teeth ripped and chewed. But this blood is fresh, from a larger animal, so fresh she swears the heart only just stopped beating. To Leah it smells like a deer.

 

Leah narrows her eyes and then, in shock, widens them again.

 

Before her stand Isabella Swan, no Cullen, Leah corrects herself quickly. The human bride of the vampire coven that bordered her childhood home was standing before her. No longer human of course, Leah remembers her initial shock way back when the girl had emerged from the vampire residence with amber eyes and lacking the familiar beating of a human heart. This was the girl. The mother of the halfling who almost caused a war. The human who desired immortal flesh. The girl who lived among the friendly monsters until she became one herself.

 

Leah remains still and quiet. Bella has seen her, this she is sure of, as both of their senses rival that of general humanity. But she is unsure of her next step. It is not as though this reunion is expected. Curiosity claws at her insides though. Why is Bella here? Why now?

 

Leah blinks and Bella is before her, only a few feet away with hesitation written on her pale, smooth, face. It’s purposeful, Leah knows that the vampire doesn’t have to show emotions nor would it come naturally but Leah knows the Cullens taught her. Taught her to display humanity to displace fear and suspicion. To Leah, Bella looks like a statue, or a painting from the history books she used to read in high school, forever young and beautiful with stories hidden behind the curtain of time.

 

Bella is, of course, exactly same in appearance as the last time Leah looked upon her face. No doubt the same thought passes through Bella’s mind about her. There is a single drop of blood at the corner of Bella’s red lips but otherwise no imperfections.

 

“Leah Clearwater.” Bella says and Leah finds she was not expecting the vampire to speak at all.

 

“Isabella Cullen” Leah replies.

 

Hearing her name seems to have a slightly adverse effect on Bella and Leah watches as the faintest trace of discomfort flashes across her face only to be quickly schooled into passivity. A small smile forms on Bella’s lips then. The glowing amber eyes sweep up and down Leah’s figure and she is suddenly aware her human skin lacks the complimentary modesty of fur.

 

“It’s Bella, Leah. You remember that much”

 

Of course, Leah thinks, I remember everything. She remains quiet though. Bella watches her and for what seems a few moments, but what really amounts to a rather large chunk of time, neither of them speak. Leah feels tight as a wire, on edge for the first time in a long time and she likes to pretend at least that Bella feels the same. She is surprised then when Bella finally speaks again.

 

“You’re still alive then?”

 

Leah frowns, confused.

 

“I’m here aren’t I?”

 

Bella indulges another tight smile and nods.

 

“See dead people often, Swan?”

 

“Wouldn’t be the first time, I’ll admit that.”

 

Leah looks at her, really looks hard like somehow if she focuses she could read the vampire’s mind and understand the cryptic things she’s saying. But she is met with the same statuesque facade that gets her nowhere at all. Bella never looks away from her, but if eyes are the window to the soul Bella’s are curtained and covered with several layers of dust. Edward, Leah remembers, can read minds and she imagines he is hiding behind a tree at this very moment.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

“Why are you?”

 

Bella counters her quickly and Leah raises her eyebrow but Bella’s eyes are on the snow.

 

“Nostalgia.” Leah says, unwilling to give any further explanation.

 

“Me too.”

 

“Where’s the family then? Aren’t you all so precious, taking a trip down memory lane…”

 

Bella looks up at Leah slowly. There is a sound in the distance and Leah whips her head around looking for the source. She hears muffled voices and laughter, the crunch of snow under hiking boots.

 

“People are coming” Leah hears Bella’s warning in her ear, faint and wispy, but she swears she feels granite hard lips move against her ear with the words. When she looks the vampire is gone and she’s standing alone in the snowy clearing, naked and listening to hikers approach. So enwrapped in their photography of the snow on the trees and their joking words, they don’t notice the massive wolf slink away behind them as the snow begins to fall again.

 

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